


Creative Betting

by redluna



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dares as a form of flirting?, Idk that's a tag now folks, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26694760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redluna/pseuds/redluna
Summary: In which Arthur forgets that one should never dare accept a bet from Mal. At least this time she only means the best.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	Creative Betting

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an au off a tumblr list (can link if y'all want): “my friends dared me to buy 20 condoms but i didn’t realize that the cute cashier would be working tonight so i avoided eye contact as i piled them onto the counter and please stop laughing so hard, oh my god it’s for a dare okay i’ve never had sex in my life and once you stopped laughing, i swear i fell in love with that sparkle in your eye as you grinned wildly at me and asked me out for a drink” au

To his credit, Arthur really should have known better.

It was normal for any group of people that had known each other for long enough to have some sort of rules around their interactions, after all. Theirs might deviate from the norm sometimes—he certainly didn’t want to explain the one about Dom no longer being allowed near train tracks without supervision—but it was still normal in theory if nothing else.

What all of this really boiled down to in the end, of course, was that Arthur really, _really_ shouldn’t have chanced a bet from Mal. 

It was like some sort of standard in the universe; a subset of Murphy's Law probably. It didn’t matter how much liquid courage Arthur had coursing through him or even that he had managed to keep a hand of truly impressive cards before taking the offer. None of it mattered when Mal was still going to be able to manage that crook of lips that’d make your heart stutter for all the wrong reasons as she spread out her cards in a spread improbably higher than your own.

Of course, he might have gotten a lesser punishment. Could have, really, if he hadn’t spent the better part of midterms sleep deprived out of his mind and babbling about the obnoxious clerk that kept coming up with counter arguments to each point in his essays. If he could just have managed to shut his mouth back then, he wouldn’t be getting marched out into the cool night air to head down to the only 24/7 convenience store within walking distance of their campus (and thus a Mecca for all students).

At least the person on tonight was the dark skinned, curly haired clerk. Or, at least, it was until that man grinned in a way that let Arthur know, for the second time that night, that he was well and truly fucked.

“Eames?” Yusuf hollered over his shoulder. “I’m taking my break now.”

The quick succession of clattering noises from the back room informed them all of what the occupant there thought of that even more than the raised voice. “ _What_? You just took your…” The rest of it trailed away when Eames stumbled out to the front, full lips spreading wide as he saw who was there. At least this part he didn’t seem inclined to yell. “Why hello there, what have we here?”

Ariadne, as with most of their friends, was entirely too immune to the glare Arthur sent her way after she wedged her elbow into his side. “Best to get it over with, yeah?” she offered, eyebrows lifting steadily higher the longer Arthur stared her down.

Not wanting to admit the sense of such a thing didn’t come with the benefit of making her wrong somehow, unfortunately, so Arthur shuffled forward to drop his haul onto the counter top. He kept his eyes stuck on the fading signs tacked up on the wall behind the register, well versed in what was to come.

It figured that it’d take the quick beep of the scanner to make him actually tear his eyes away. Not that he was expecting the odd clench, release that hit his heart when Eames wouldn’t even glance up from his work, brow set into a sizable knot.

“Big night, huh?” was all Eames seemed prepared to give.

Arthur cleared his throat, hoping against hope that the heat rising up around his collar wasn’t too visible. He hadn’t ever even bought a box of condoms for himself before now. At best all he had had was a handful of freebies Dom had snagged from the basket the RA left out in their first week, shoving them into Arthur’s hands with a wink.

“You can have some if you want.” 

Not that he would ever want to admit it, but it was hardly uncommon for Arthur to feel off step around Eames. He hadn’t ever gotten the other man to stumble back, though, so it was as odd as it was amusing to watch Eames almost smush the next box he was reaching for.

The little hack snort that Yusuf let out made even _less_ sense.

“Erm, right, I’ll just…” There were little splotches of red on Eames cheeks, of all things. “Pretty sure that wasn’t how you actually meant that so—”

“Why not?” Arthur pressed. “It’s not like I’m going to get any use out of them.”

If Eames was staring him down in hopes for a blush—or, alright, for the one he already had to grow _more_ noticeable—then Arthur wasn’t about to humor him.

“You’re telling me these aren’t for some whiz kid of a girl you’ve finally got yourself?” Eames asked.

Arthur took a second, shaping his mouth around “whiz kid” (honestly, who spoke like that anymore?) before shaking his head. “Lost a dare,” he said. “So, honestly, if you think you could make use of them, go for it.”

The moment it took for Eames to stop staring and hook a grin was just a heartbeat too long. “Nah,” he replied, “pretty sure the only guy I’d need them for isn’t up for it.”

“Oh.” Arthur ignored the lift of Mal’s eyebrows, noticeable just barely out of the corner of his eye, informing him that he had done as piss poor as he thought at hiding the disappointment in his voice. “Well...um...there might be someone else, you know.”

“Nope.” Eames’ lips popped around the word. “Pretty sure there’s only one doe eyed Literature major in the world for me.”

“Doe eyed? What are you…” Arthur trailed off when he caught Dom’s shoulders shaking with barely suppressed laughter right around when Yusuf actually threw his hands up into the air. “Okay, no, tell me you’re not talking about me.”

“Why?” There was a flash in Eames’ eyes that Arthur couldn’t say he liked at all. “‘fraid of what it’d be like to be with another man, darling?”

“Bit afraid of what it’d be like to be with _anyone_ , really,” Arthur tossed back, before he could think any better of it and swallow the words. “But if you can help me detangle the mess that’s pre 1800s Lit, I can probably trust you with this.”

“I… That’s not even…” Eames smacked a hand to his face as Yusuf whooped, almost tossing himself over the counter to get a high five from Ariadne. “I’m taking you dinner first, you heathen.”

“Good, I expect your finest bag of gummy bears.” Arthur waggled his eyebrows just to hear the little choked sound that escaped Eames. “What? If I’m gonna date a gentleman I better make the most of it.”

At least now he didn’t have to pretend that the sly twist of Eames’ grin was anything other than beautiful. “Damn straight you should, love.”

**Author's Note:**

> I made Arthur a Lit major at the last second for the sake of reliability. If any of you have ever been forced to try to decipher Puritan literature for a class then you get both me and Arthur here.
> 
> (Maybe, maybe might write more for this world. I've missed these loves.)


End file.
